New Community Land Trust support for Somerset and Dorset
Community organisations trying to build affordable homes in the rural towns and villages of Somerset and Dorset are to get valuable business support from a new partnership. Resonance and Wessex Community Assets are today revealing details of a two year partnership to pilot a support business for Community Land Trusts across Somerset and Dorset. The 'action research' project is being supported by the Carnegie UK Trust, which promotes sustainable rural communities, using funding secured from the Department for Communities and Local Government. Paul Sander-Jackson, Executive Director of Wessex Community Assets, says there's a huge challenge ahead: 'We are very excited to be awarded a key role in stimulating and supporting communities to tackle the urgent problem of providing housing that is affordable for people who want to live and work in our towns and villages.' Steve Watson, Resonance, formally CEO of Somer Housing Association, will be leading the technical assistance team with outreach support from Alison Ward of Wessex Community Assets. Initially the team are working to esablish relationships with key partners operating in and around the Dorset and Somerset area and identify communites that have both the housing need and capacity on the ground to develop a community Land Trust.
http://tiny.cc/02g1p© Community Land Trusts
